Sabal minor

[osideterry 84]

Since no one has posted temps for this palm, I thought I'd show my brother's palms growing in Kansas City, MO (Zone 6a).

Temps: His low this winter was -3F but he had 13 days in single digits which is when all the damage happens.

Protection: Palms were buried in mulch. On coldest events heavy plastic was thrown over them. No lights or external heating.

Edited March 16, 2009 by osideterry

[JayW 34]

Looks like it's doing well. How old is it?

[osideterry 84]

My brother planted it 2 years ago, and it was in a 3-gallon tree pot.

[texaspalms 0]

Hope it does well for you. These palms are nearly a weed here in the trans-Mississippi and live up into Arkansas. I know they've seen below 0F in their natural range.

[Matt N- Dallas 245]

That palm looks great Terry. I'm from KC and planted s. minor there at my former home and my Mom's house twelve years ago. I planted the NE TX and McCurtain ecotypes. Both have grown well and produce seeds every year. They were covered with mulch for the first five years, now they are on their own. I found them to be more cold hardy than needle palms in z6. I think the duration of cold - not the ultimate lows are more limiting in that area. When I lived there, I had more damage to palms from a week of temps that hovered between 10*-20* than single day lows of -8*. Sabal minor sure are tough palms. They need to be grown more in z6 areas that have summer heat.

[osideterry 84]

I just looked it up and my brother called that one a "Northeast Texas" minor. He has two of them, and the first picture below is his other one. He has a couple "Arkansas" types he planted last year, but they are very small and don't look as nice.

He also has a Sabal "birmingham" which is supposed to be a hybrid minor with another Sabal. The second photo is it looking it's worst after being buried in mulch this winter. Note the southwest facing wall behind it.

[kristof p 8]

now this is one hardy palm and i think it is hardier than R. hystrix...there is however much variation in S. minor. plants from the most northerly habitats are definitely much hardier than there more southerly brothers/sisters.

here it has survived in the open -8.5°C combined with two weeks of nightfrost and barely positive temperatures...same weather conditions have killed the main stem of my R. hystrix which was somewhat protected by evergreen plants.

Edited April 4, 2009 by kristof p

[JayW 34]

It hit low 20's here in central Florida this winter... no problem for a S. Minor though. Here's one I took a pic of last week growing in the wild just down from my house. They are starting to flower right now...

[fishmanejr 7]

Does anyone have experience growing minors in areas with long duration cold temperatures? I'm up in western NY, which is classified as zone 6a based on its average minimum temperature. However, our winters hover in the teens and twenties from December through February with January and February seeing dips into single digits and the occasional day or two below zero. All temperatures in Farenheit. I've read folks on the forums here suggest more northern ecotypes such as McCurtain or Arkansas but am concerned about their ability to withstand three straight months of below freezing temperatures. If anyone has experience with these guys in a similar climate, I'd love to hear about it!

[limoncik 7]

Winter 2011-2012 my sabal survived under snow -5.8 F

[Allen 559]

0F and windchill -15F.  spotted leaf damage.  Survived fine though